bdj610's 1996 End of Year All-Star Teams Simulated Games Results

I have finally finished simulating the All-Star Games using my 1996 End of Year All-Star Teams. A couple of streaks were snapped this time around as the 1996 National League All-Stars took the seven game series 4-3 over their American League counterparts. Will this mean a win for the NL in the one-game ASG? Stay tuned.

As previously stated, I simulated seven games (six series between starters, and one series where the lineups, starting rotations changed on a daily basis), by playing each one 10,000 times.

The first six games I simulated used each starting pitcher on both sides at least once, and all position players started a minimum of two games each. Here are the results:

• Game 1: NL vs. AL, John Smoltz vs. Andy Pettitte. The NL wins 5,489 games out of 10,000 simulations (using a DH).
• Game 2: NL vs. AL, Andy Benes vs. Pat Hentgen. The AL wins 6,718 games (usina a DH).
• Game 3: AL vs. NL, Mike Mussina vs. Kevin Brown. The NL wins 7,062 games. Maybe it was the fact that all five Colorado Rockies players on the NL side (Galarraga, Young, Castilla, Bichette, and Burks) were the first five guys in the lineup.
• Game 4: AL vs, NL, Charles Nagy vs. Tom Glavine. The NL wins 5,116 games.
• Game 5: AL vs. NL, Alex Fernandez vs. Shane Reynolds. The NL wins 5,212 games.
• Game 6: NL vs. AL, Al Leiter vs. Ken Hill. The AL wins 5,421 games (using a DH).
• Game 7: AL vs. NL, anything goes. The AL wins 5,216 games (using a DH).

The NL wins a series for the first time since 1990. But the AL wins the ever important "anything goes" series. This seventh series seems to be a good indicator as to who wins the big one.

For the official All-Star Game, I decided to just simulate one game and one game only. The starting pitchers were Smoltz and Pettitte and I let them pitch two innings (unless they struggled badly). The rest of the pitchers would get one inning each (unless they struggled badly). The position players were replaced every three innings. No pinch hitters here, (as in previous tries, the pinch hitter is taken out of the game). The DH's (Mark Grace of the NL and Paul Molitor of the AL) were never replaced.

The starting lineups, first for the National League (I'm using 1997 Topps cards because these are the cards I used to represent the players on my All-Star teams):


Now the American League starting lineup:


Here is the result:


The 1996 AL All-Stars beat the 1996 NL All-Stars by a final score of 6-4 in what turned out to be a home run showcase,

The box score is below (Just click on the picture to take a closer look.


The scoring plays were as follows:

Top 1: Andy Pettitte pitching. Lance Johnson triples. Tony Gwynn grounds out to Cal Ripken (6-3), Johnson scoring.

Top 2: Pettitte pitching. Mike Piazza hits a home run.

Bottom 2: John Smoltz pitching. Cal Ripken doubles. Paul Molitor flies out to Tony Gwynn (9). Ivan Rodriguez grounds out to Craig Biggio (4-3), Ripken advances to third. Roberto Alomar hits a home run, Ripken scoring.

Bottom 3: Kevin Brown pitching. Wade Boggs strikes out. Mark McGwire hits a home run.

Top 4: Charles Nagy pitching. Fred McGriff walks. Barry Bonds walks, McGriff advances to second. Mike Piazza walks, McGriff advances to third, Bonds advances to second. Mark Grace reaches first on an error by Nagy (E1), McGriff, scoring, Bonds advances to third, Piazza advances to second. Chipper Jones reaches first on a fielders choice, Bonds scoring, Grace out at second base on the FC (1-6).

Bottom 4: Tom Glavine pitching. Chuck Knoblauch grounds to Mickey Morandini (4-3). Brady Anderson strikes out. Travis Fryman hits a home run.

Bottom 5: Andy Benes pitching. Juan Gonzalez walks. Joe Carter hits a home run, Gonzalez scoring.

Your starters, John Smoltz and Andy Pettitte. Joe Carter is the MVP.
So on the strength of four home runs (McGwire, Alomar, Fryman, and Carter), the AL powers their way to victory. If this game actually existed, the MVP award would have gone to Joe Carter (1-1, 1 hr, 2 rbi). Ken Hill takes the win, Andy Benes gets the loss, hometown hero Jose Mesa gets the save, and the only players who didn't get in the game were pitchers Jeff Brantley, Trevor Hoffman, & Shane Reynolds from the NL and Mike Mussina & John Wetteland from the AL.

If you want to see the .DAT files that I used (I still don't know how to download these onto the blog , so please just take a look at the screen caps below). If anyone can e-mail me instructions, please do so at bdj610@hotmail.com. Below is the NL .DAT file, then the AL .DAT file:




Now that the 1996 All-Star Games are officially over, at noon on Thursday, I will introduce the 1997 End of Year All-Star teams. Simulations for games with those rosters to come hopefully by Sunday night.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama